It stands as a testament to the grim possibilities of modern Hollywood storytelling and an heir to the legendary sequence of explosions that ends Michelangelo Antonioni's "Zabriskie Point".
Engineers are tinkering with jets that burn fuel in a sequence of miniature explosions much like the explosions that move a car engine's pistons.
These explosions can occur individually or as one of tens to hundreds of explosions in a sequence, producing a range of deposit volumes.
But the plot is merely an excuse for endless demolition-derby effects: explosions; flying masonry; more explosions; blindingly incomprehensible computer-generated sequences of these walking scrapheaps fighting like pro wrestlers - and did I mention explosions?
This plea has its origin in issues that were brought to light shortly after the whole human genome sequence was published, followed closely by the genome sequences of most model organisms, and an explosion of discovery relating to single-nucleotide polymorphisms, gene copy-number variation and quantitative trait loci (QTL).
Antonioni is, in essence, a director of extraordinary sequences: the imagined explosions that culminate Zabriskie Point; the impossible-to-figure-out penultimate shot of The Passenger (how did they get the camera through those iron bars?), Aldo's march to his own suicide in Il Grido, the sequence in the park in Blow Up.
Lots of explosions and a little smoking.
For example, the eruptions of Mount St. Helens from 1980 to 1986 followed a sequence of small Vulcanian-type explosions, large Pelean and Plinian explosions, and finally extrusions of viscous lava into a lava dome that capped the vent.
Marshall described the broader experience: "There's fifty or more speaking parts; I'm dealing with thousands of extras, logistical action sequences, explosions, car chases the works".
With a steep drop in the costs of sequencing and an explosion of research on genes, medical experts expect that genetic analyses of cancers will become routine.
